Budweiser, Cruzcampo and Peroni were the top three best-performing beer brands in grocery during this year’s Fifa Men’s World Cup, according to new data.
The trio grew year-on-year sales by £8.1m (18%), £7.7m (42.1%), and £5.7m (19.7%) respectively during the first five weeks of the tournament [NIQ 5 w/e 11 July 2026].
As the official beer of the World Cup, Budweiser ran a slew of activations throughout the tournament, including an on-pack promotion that offered the chance to win tickets to the England vs Argentina semi-final in Atlanta on 15 July. It recorded the largest volume gain of any beer brand, shifting an additional 5.8 million litres over the competition.
“The Fifa World Cup was the biggest moment of the year’s calendar, and this year Budweiser wanted to give shoppers plenty of reasons to engage with the brand – from our limited-edition ‘Budstalgia’ packs to the chance to win once-in-a-lifetime prizes, all backed by our global ‘Let It Pour’ campaign,” said Mark Wingfield Digby, off-trade sales director at Budweiser Brewing Group.
“That combination of emotional connection, exciting promotional mechanics and strong in-store visibility – executed brilliantly alongside our retail partners – helped us connect with shoppers and celebrate the passion that football inspires,” he added.
Cruzcampo and Fosters also recorded strong volume sales growth, each shifting 3.5 million additional litres compared with last year. Fosters reduced its abv to 3.4% in February of this year to lighten its duty burden, and its average price per litre has since dropped by 22.5% year on year, to £1.67.
Low & no sales surge
The total beer market performed strongly throughout the World Cup, delivering £32.4m in additional sales (+5.1% year on year), on volumes up 8.9%.
“The World Cup delivered a welcome boost for Britain’s beer category, with shoppers buying significantly more beer for at-home viewing occasions,” said Dave Knowles, managing director of Alpine online. “Brewers competed hard for shoppers’ spend through promotional activity and larger pack formats.”
Reflecting the late kick-off time of many matches, low & no was the best performing sector in beer, with value sales climbing 19.6% year on year [NIQ]. Notably, Guinness 0.0 added £1.5m in value sales, outperforming the flagship Guinness brand itself, which added £1.4m.
“Moderation is now becoming a mainstream consumer behaviour rather than a niche trend,” noted Knowles.
Elsewhere, mainstream beer sales climbed a modest 1.1%, while craft remained under pressure, declining by 9.5% year on year.
Despite launching what it called “one of its biggest-ever summer campaigns” designed to “position BrewDog as the craft beer to drink” during the World Cup, BrewDog was the worst performing beer brand in retail during the tournament.
Its sales slid by £5.0m (22.2%), on volumes down 22.2% when compared to the same period in 2025 [NIQ].
“BrewDog focussed heavily on bar performance over the World Cup and this saw some of our best ever revenue days,” a spokesperson for BrewDog said. “Every one of our bars were fully booked for the semi-final and final, hosting almost 30,000 covers.”
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